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Showing posts from April, 2011

Lectionary Notes for Easter Sunday

Readings for Easter Sunday, 4/24/11: Acts 10:34-43, Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24, 1 Corinthians 15:19-26, John 20:1-18, or Matthew 28:1-10 Acts 10:34-43 : Peter is speaking to Cornelius and his friends and relatives in Caesarea. Cornelius had been visited by a messenger from God telling him to invite Peter to his home and here him speak. "God shows no partiality". Do we get that? Believe it? Preach it? Live and practice it? "preaching peace by Jesus Christ" Ah, the gospel message is a message of peace. Too much of our Christian history works to counter that claim. We struggle on! A mini-sermon, all the facts needed to share the good news packed into one little blurb - this is Peter's quick pitch, at the opportunity he's been given. Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24: Note that this is virtually the same selection from Psalms as on  Palm Sunday , with slightly different verses. Included in Easter's reading, but not in Palm Sunday's: "the Lord has punished me

Lectionary Notes for Good Friday

Readings for Good Friday, 4/22/11: Isaiah 52:13-53:12, Psalm 22, Hebrews 10:16-25, John 18:1-19:42 Isaiah 52:13-53:12: Here Isaiah describes the suffering servant, and no surprise, we easily see Jesus reflected in this image. Isaiah seems to focus on the theme of how this servant will be what no one is looking for, but what everyone will give attention to when revealed. "by a perversion of justice he was taken away." This sentence particularly strikes - if we apply this to Jesus, we read that it is an act of injustice that takes Jesus away to death. Do we remember to think of it that way? We get so caught up in his sacrifice, in God's plan laid out, that I think we forget that what happened to Jesus, even if it worked for our good,   was  wrong! "It was the will of the Lord to crush him with pain." Eek! I hope not. I'm not sure that this is ever God's will, exactly, or that way that God would hope and desire for things to turn out. I think God wor

Lectionary Notes for Maundy Thursday

Readings for Maundy Thursday, 4/21/11: Exodus 12:1-4 (5-10), 11-14, Psalm 116:1-12, 12-19, 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, John 13:1-17, 31b-35 Exodus 12:1-4 (5-10), 11-14 God describes to Moses and Aaron the Passover, which is the festival that centers Jesus' meal with his disciples as we celebrate Maundy Thursday. "this is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly" Ready to go. Ready to move. Prepared. Imagine if this was always the way we were, in terms of readiness to respond to God's call. The Passover is a hard one to stomach (no pun intended.) It is hard to imagine a plague of killing firstborns all through the land, isn't it? But it is a festival, a "remembrance" that becomes so crucial in the identity of Judaism, and even in the events that shape Christ's last days. Death, blood, lamb, sacrifice. The ways the symbolism of the Old Testament events and New Tes